Chapter 3426: The Extra Chapter 5
The emperor's eyebrows jumped. "Everyone else sets the upper limit, but you set the lower limit?"
Zhou Man reminded: "Land, oh, land..."
The emperor immediately changed his tone, "Okay, what else?"
"Let's start with the official land reform," Bai Shan suggested. "Now that land is shrinking, there are frequent cases of usurping official land and manpower. Why not abolish the official land and return the land to the people?"
The emperor frowned slightly, "I'm afraid the officials in the court won't agree."
Bai Shan said: "As long as the salary is sufficient, they will agree."
He said, "Few people in the court manage their own official land like we do. Most of them are managed by the Ministry of Revenue. Every year after the autumn tax is paid, we receive our share from the Ministry of Revenue. In fact, it is not much different from receiving a salary."
"The real difference lies in the local area, and the encroachment on official land mostly occurs in the local area." Because local official land is generally managed by officials themselves, few people will hand it over to the local household office for management.
This is a habit, an unspoken rule.
But Bai Shan thought that this "remuneration" method was too complicated. It would be better to directly determine the income of officials and how much salary each rank should receive, and have the Ministry of Revenue pay it all.
The emperor pondered, "So, what's the quota? With the government-owned farmland now returned to the people, where does the Ministry of Revenue get all the extra money and grain?"
This is not a matter of one or two years. Once it starts, it will be permanent and will be consumed every month. Can the national treasury and local finances support it?
Bai Shan immediately said, "So after the official land reform, there will be tax reform. Local governments will retain this financial reform. As for how much to give, we can take the average of the current income of officials of various ranks and add 2% to it."
If you gain more than you lose, everyone will definitely be willing to do so and just consider it as a way to maintain integrity through public salary.
The emperor saw that he was talking clearly and logically, so he asked, "Have you calculated it?"
Bai Shan smiled slightly and said confidently: "Of course, this minister, Yang Xiang and others have calculated repeatedly for two years and have thought of various scenarios."
He bewitched the emperor, saying, "I understand your Majesty's concerns. The previous dynasty fell, firstly, because the last emperor was cruel, tyrannical, and extravagant; secondly, because he was ungrateful and treacherous."
The emperor glanced at Bai Shan and gave him a meaningful look.
Both of them studied under Mr. Zhuang. Since Zhuang Xun entered the Chongwenguan, even after he became emperor, he often sought lessons from Zhuang Xun. Sometimes he could gain something just by listening to him talk about the current government affairs.
Although Zhuang Xun seldom expressed his opinions on current state affairs, whenever he asked, he would start by talking about history and end by discussing history.
Similar things always happen in history.
For example, their attitude towards aristocratic families.
The so-called ungratefulness of the last emperor of the previous dynasty, in detail, was that the last emperor of the previous dynasty was unwilling to be constrained by the aristocratic families, so he vigorously promoted the imperial examination system and directly overturned the Nine-Rank System.
He led a group of people and started a direct confrontation with the aristocratic families. In addition, the country was in trouble both internally and externally at the time. His efforts to build the Grand Canal and fight against Goguryeo caused public resentment, so everyone took advantage of the situation to rebel.
Although it was their Li family who took over the throne, they had similar understandings of the aristocratic families.
Moreover, the Li family felt it even more deeply. They must not fall into the same pit as the previous dynasty had taught them.
It is impossible to obey the powerful families. The best way is to weaken their influence in the court and in the world.
If we weaken them, we need replacements. People from poor families or even common people can be a good influence.
However, unlike the last emperor of the previous dynasty, what he wanted to accomplish in three years, the previous emperor took twenty years to pave the way for him. He might not be able to complete it during his lifetime, but it doesn’t matter, he still has a son.
Before his death, my father repeatedly reminded me to distinguish clearly between priorities. Some things, although important, must be done slowly. People must be patient, and to be an emperor, one must not only be patient but also be able to endure.
Only by enduring what ordinary people cannot endure can one become a good emperor.
The emperor paused for a moment, then skipped over the technical questions and asked, "Now, one of you is the Prime Minister, one is the Minister of the Chancellery, and the other is the Deputy Minister. Your official fields are arguably the best in the court. Are you truly willing to give them up?"
He looked at Zhou Man and said meaningfully, "No one in the court can compare to Mr. Zhou in terms of income from official land. Those official lands under your name, especially the construction of Putian Village, must have cost a lot of money, right? The harvest from your official lands and farms every year is the envy of all officials."
Zhou Man responded, "As long as it's for the benefit of the Great Jin and Your Majesty, I'll only lose a temporary advantage. After me, my descendants will all be people of Jin and Your Majesty's subjects. They will enjoy all the benefits from now on. In this way, I won't lose anything."
The emperor raised his eyebrows, laughed heartily, and slapped his thigh. "Excellent! If everyone could be like you, how could the world be so unfair?"
Zhou Man's words gave the emperor the confidence to persuade all the officials. He stood up and turned around twice, then turned back to stare at Bai Shan with a piercing gaze and asked, "How do you want to change the taxes? Forget about the fanciful proposals like the ones in the memorial. Just state your bottom line and your initial plan. There's no need to bargain with me."
The emperor hates nagging people the most.
Bai Shan's spirits lifted as he spoke, "The matters mentioned in the memorial are indeed difficult to complete. Even if they were completed, I'm afraid there would be chaos. Therefore, we have deliberated over and over again. We propose to collect the capitation tax and the land tax together, and then collect the taxes on officials and gentry when the time is right..."
This is a very difficult task, not only because it harms the interests of the "rich" and "powerful" at this time, but also because not everyone agrees that Bai Shanyang and Shu's actions will benefit Dajin and the world.
The opposition from the former is difficult to deal with, and the opposition from the latter is even more difficult. Perception is something that is extremely difficult to change.
Fortunately, there were many ministers in the court who knew the same thing as Bai Shan and Yang Heshu, and they did not want to change everything at once, but took it step by step as Bai Shan said.
Yang Heshu presided over the official land reform and then proposed the tax reform, but then he made a mistake and was sent out.
After Bai Shan took over, he stayed quiet for two years, and then began to put forward some small suggestions, making some revisions every year. Finally, after laying a solid foundation, he began to reform taxes.
Not only the land tax and the poll tax, but also the commercial tax. The scope of the reform was very broad, but the pace was narrowed. Instead of taking a long step forward, we took a cautious step forward.
But it took them ten years to get to this step.
Bai Shan waited until the task was completed and the Jin Dynasty entered a period of stability and became increasingly powerful before he decided to retire. Moreover, his successors were no less talented than him, and many of them shared the same understanding and aspirations as him.
I got a way to write extra stories, which is to use this kind of protagonist to travel around, string together the extra stories that each person needs, and then write a little bit of their own description when they need it.
Not only can you always see the protagonists, but the writing is also free
(End of this chapter)
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